Nigeria (MNN) — Crises in Afghanistan and Haiti may dominate mainstream news right now, but equally dire circumstances in Nigeria demand attention as killings and kidnappings plague northern Nigeria.
“Visualize in your mind a small building and the doors of that building being thrown open, and a group of people coming in, breaking up a church service or a gathering of believers,” TransWorld Radio (TWR) President/CEO Lauren Libby says.
“How in the world would you react to that? What would you pray about in that situation? Because that’s what they (Nigerian Christians) face almost every week.”
The Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram began its reign of terror in 2009. Then came the Islamic State. Earlier this month, Fulani herdsmen surpassed Islamic terrorist groups as the greatest threat to Nigerian Christians.
Sadly, mass murders are increasingly common. A few days ago, persecutors went house-to-house searching for victims in Plateau state; they shot and killed 37 believers.
See our full Nigeria coverage here.
Find your place in the story
If this is the first you’re hearing of Nigeria’s bloodshed, you’re not alone. “The media captures [our attention] in other places. [An event] has to be very dramatic to make those news outlets and when it comes to northern Nigeria, [that crisis is] not so big,” Libby says.
(Photo courtesy of TWR)
Last year, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic sent everyone into isolation, TWR launched a brand new transmitter to boost its reach into northern Nigeria. Some radio programs strengthen and encourage believers, while others teach Muslim listeners about Christ.
Connect with TWR here for tangible ways to help encourage persecuted believers. Most importantly, pray. Pray Nigerian Christians will be strong and courageous. Ask the Lord to remind believers they are not alone.
“When you stop and think about what they (Nigerian believers) have gone through and how they’ve endured, and the government has done nothing – the military doesn’t engage because, I think, they’re fearful – that’s very discouraging,” Libby says.
Indiscriminate attacks by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria are causing immense suffering. A violent campaign is being waged against innocent civilians who are being killed, chased, enrolled or enslaved.
(Photo, caption ©EC/ECHO/Anouk Delafortrie via Flickr)
